Lost and Found

I smiled while passing by a board placed on a metal basket. This basket is set in a quiet corner of a local Convent school where I go everyday after a tiring day at the bank. Forgotten books, bags, pencils, lunch boxes, water bottles and sometimes Barbie dolls anxiously await their possessors in that peaceful place. And, judging each evening from the content of the basket, students come often to retrieve their belongings.

Sometimes, I stand near the basket picturing little angels’ dreams and fears connected to their belongings. And then suddenly I feel happy that they are at least hoping that they can come back the next morning and peek into this corner in the hope of getting their treasure BACK. This is all because they live in a city where peace prevails. It’s often not easy to find what you have lost especially when there is conflict around…

We seldom think how essential peace is for the people of a country. We cannot even imagine how the dreams of scores of children and youth like us are marred by the fight for identity and sovereignty from gory traumas inflicted upon them. We rarely think about the innocent Iraqi children crying and bleeding; the haunting green eyes so filled with hostility of young Afghani girls or thousands of children in Kashmir living their lives with an unknown fear of losing their loved-ones to men in khaki...

We have forgotten the messages of patience, forgiveness, tolerance, love, affection, brotherhood, unity and harmony. We look at each other but never care to look into our own hearts.

We have lost touch with our own human qualities. We value human beings but do not love them. We follow but don’t make the first move. Our heart is corrupted. We want to be ahead of time no matter what the cost is. We wait for others to reform ourselves but never think about doing it on our own. In other words, we never make the most of what have been bestowed upon us.

Think for a moment, has it been too late to mend? The answer is: NO. Like every dark cloud has a silver lining behind it, we can still make it only if we make the best and fullest of our abilities for preservation of peace. Let love, tolerance, forgiveness and patience lead the way. Let’s bury the hatred and realize that life lies in letting others live and peace is where life lies. Let help others find what they have lost and find our own lost self through. Let’s promise, let’s pledge!